1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a printer, a printing system and a computer program for heating a ribbon by energization of a thermal head to thermally transfer a thermal transfer object of the ribbon such as color ink and transparent laminate material to a recording medium such as paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
An exemplary printer of the thermal transfer type is disclosed in Japanese Patent laid-Open No. 2000-15886. In the printer, a ribbon to which a transfer object including a plurality of inks or dyestuffs of different colors is applied is transported together with a recording medium such as paper in a state in which the ribbon is pressed against the recording medium by a thermal head. In this state, the ribbon is heated by energization of a heat generating resistive element of the thermal head to thermally transfer the transfer object of the ribbon to the recording medium. The printer utilizes the fact that, as the heat quantity of the thermal head increases, the transfer amount of the transfer object to the recording medium increases and as the heat quantity of the thermal head decreases, the transfer amount of the transfer object to the recording medium decreases, to control the energization of the heat generating resistive element of the thermal head so that a quantity of heat by which a desired printing result is obtained is generated.